1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to the movement of passengers and, in particular, to modeling the movement of passengers for an aircraft. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for modeling the movement of passengers during enplaning and deplaning of an aircraft.
2. Background
Aircraft utilization is one performance indicator used by airlines. The amount of aircraft utilization plays a role in the profitability of airlines. Increasing aircraft utilization may result in increased revenues and/or profitability for an airline. The amount of aircraft utilization is affected by different factors. For example, increasing aircraft utilization includes coordinating various components for an airline. These components include, for example, fleet planning, schedule planning, passenger reservations, flight operations, ground operations, aircraft maintenance, and/or other suitable components.
Turnaround time is the time between an aircraft arriving at a gate and leaving the gate. Reducing the turnaround time results in an increase in the efficiency of aircraft utilization. This increase in efficiency may increase the number of flights that can be performed in a day by the airline. Additionally, reducing the turnaround time also may reduce the cost of seats per mile per flight.
A number of different operations occur during the period of turnaround time. For example, the enplaning and deplaning of passengers occurs during this time period. Additionally, cleaning, inspection, and maintenance also may be performed during the period of turnaround time.
Enplaning involves the movement of passengers to their seats in the aircraft. Deplaning involves the movement of passengers from their seats out of the aircraft.
As fuel prices increase and competition increases, even small reductions in the turnaround time may increase the competitiveness of an airline and/or increase profits for an airline.
The typical turnaround time for an aircraft is from about 30 minutes to about 60 minutes. A large portion of this time is the time needed for passengers to enplane and/or deplane the aircraft.
Many different strategies are present for reducing the time needed for passenger enplaning and deplaning. For example, with passenger enplaning, typical strategies include calling for passengers to enplane from the back rows of seats to the front rows of seats in groups. Other strategies include calling passengers in groups based on window to aisle seating. Still other strategies for enplaning an aircraft include boarding by groups based on when boarding passes are obtained.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus that takes into account one or more of the issues discussed above, as well as possibly other issues.